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A very first attempt, a dying earth map

Hello!

I've really finished this map some time before even stumbling upon this site, so it wasn't the subject of any tutorials, tips or hints from the more experienced mappers here, but still, it's something, and for the purposes of my campaign I have to consider it finished, so I'll just pop it on here and take any critique with open hands.

The map is of the area immediately surrounding the Black Sea, in an earth millenia from now, a kind of slow-post-apocalyptic, Gene Wolfe style dying earth scenario. The game itself is Pathfinder. Enjoy (or cringe)!

Editing to clarify: the players will be finding various maps along the way on their campaign, wildly varying in quality, make and style. I'm trying as hard as I can to come up with cool blends of various styles that could have merged together during history's course. So the eclectic elements are voluntary.

"still, it's something..." And a very nice something it is. To not have had the benefit of the Guild's various styles and expertises does NOT appear to have handicapped you. To want an eclectic set of elements, and eventually a disparate array of styles is a delight, and we look forward to watching that develop.

And bravo for gracing your first post with work so good-looking; that's worth a smidgen of rep. Actually it's worth a dollop or a generous splotch, but all I can dole out is a smidgen. Welcome to the Guild, and we greedily await more.

The huge black pit is a god that fell on earth from outer space - it's essentially a sentient black lake, somewhat inspired by the "Color out of Space" by Lovecraft. The line dividing the sea is a massive bridge, spanning from coast to coast, with the ruins of a futuristic empire in the middle. In my mind, pilgrims would spend weeks walking on the transparent glass walkway on their way to scavenge age-old-ruins. I only have very rough and approximate background lore for most places on the map, since it always seems better to let the players co-create places unknowingly.

I'm super excited about all of the information and tutorials available here, as well as by the positive feedback! I can't wait to blend and improve my style with the more precise and expert techniques here. I'm currently working on a city map of Archepontus, a capital city built on the site of old Constantinople. I'll post some WIPs at some point!

EDIT: I've only realized it'd be nice to explain some methods, too; basically, my understanding of GIMP is still somewhat limited. How I went about it was just find a very simple outline of the Black Sea area, get some masks with its shape going and then fill it up with a ton of low opacity, chaotic brush strokes & tactical deletings, using some very nice grungy brushes (there's tons of those going around the 'webs, I guess I was just lucky enough to stumble upon some good ones). The land area is just barely modified old paper texture. I just fiddled around a bit with color levels until I was satisfied with a look that was old but not stereotypically so. The roads are slightly modified lightning brushes. The two "stencil" kinda symbols are, once again, just brushes . So yes, all in all, a very, very simple and basic work process.